What I Did This Month
For PostHog, published “A/B testing examples from Airbnb and YC's top companies,” “Why we test in production (and you should to),” “Adventures in null handling: Null money, null problems,” and more.
Travelled to Europe for two weeks. Started in London to spend time with coworkers. Drank the worst “juice,” ate at Wagamama, saw The Comedy of Errors at The Globe (highly recommend), and went to the Tate Modern (which got rid of the Rothko room I liked so much when I was there last).
Next, went to Cluj in Romania for a wedding. Drank a lot of Borsec (GOATed Romanian sparkling water), visited many churches (with better art than most art galleries), ate at KFC twice (it’s better there), and hung out with friends.
Finally, went to Bologna (via Rome because of a cancelled flight). Ate a lot of pasta, gelato, and mortadella (the best), visited an anatomical theatre, and went to a dinosaur and rock museum.
Launched a new project dedicated to summarizing and comparing different translations of Homer’s Iliad called Iliad Translations. Let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations.
Thoughts
London
Restaurants are able to be weirder (higher variance) when they can consistently sell high-margin alcohol and can rent smaller spaces. Alcohol subsidizes much of what is cool in London in a way Vancouver cannot possibly match.
People in London dress well because it is consistently cool all year. When it is too hot or too cold, it limits someone's fashion choices.
Something is wrong with my mental model of London. It is expensive and people don’t make that much money, but restaurants and stores are packed and people are well-dressed. Where is the money coming from?
London is definitely 10x cooler than Vancouver and there is 10x as much to do. This is with ~3x the population (depending on how you slice it).
Romania
The mosaic is a beautiful art form. The combination of architecture and art. Long lasting and made for the common people. Bringing culture to the masses.
On the highway, you fairly regularly pass horses and buggies and their version of moonshine (Țuică) is sold in jugs on the roadside.
Surprisingly, the prices for groceries and coffee in Cluj were relatively similar to prices in Vancouver. The alcohol and housing were significantly cheaper.
My favourite Romanian food is plăcintă, a fried pastry filled with cheese.
Churches progress as funds are raised for them. It seemed common for churches to be in various states of completeness. One church we went had been in progress for 30+ years. This didn’t stop the basement from being used for Sunday service.
The most popular energy drink in very Christian Romania is named "Hell.”
Bologna
Cluj had the most anti-communism graffiti I've ever seen, Bologna had the most pro-communism graffiti I've ever seen.
Bologna has the nicknames of being the wise, fat, and red city based on their university, cuisine, red buildings, and left-wing politics. All of it feels extremely true and connected. Being a student, having delicious meals, not wanting to work, and being a communist seem correlated.
Cold cuts (mortadella) and cheese were significantly better than any of the pasta meals I had.
Breakfast in Italy is a waste of a meal. Lunch is 1000x better.
Read the texts the experts are embarrassed they haven't read.
If you want to have good conversations, and you’re not naturally gifted (you’ll know), you actively have to put effort into those conversations. You need to be actively listening, asking questions, trying to make the conversation a better one.
People will take your semi-garbage if you post it online for the right price (which might be free). Transactions on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist likely don’t show in official GDP numbers but I wouldn’t be surprised if they accounted for a significant percentage.
Usually, advice for someone else is just advice for yourself in disguise. You basically repeat what works for you (in your eyes) which likely isn’t what’s best for someone else. People take advice seriously, so be wary.
There are many ways to learn to code, but everybody trying to teach you wants to make you think there is only one. You can do 1s and 0s upwards, edit one variable, read the manual, build a project, or copy the masters. They all work, but what is really key is writing code and managing motivation.
Recommendations
The French Intifada. If you’ve heard about the riots in France at the moment, this will help you understand why they are happening. The history of French North Africa is nearly incomprehensibly brutal and not that long ago.
The Art of Not Being Governed. Dan Wang recommended this book on the tribes in the highlands of Southeast Asia. Reading this made me realize how inconceivable it would be to live outside the state in the modern world. It requires generations and generations of work and the development of strategies for living outside of the state you would never consider as important like growing roots instead of grain and not writing down any history.
Alice Maz has written two of the best posts I’ve read about important subjects for me. First, about dynamics in internet communities and economies (in Minecraft). Second, about learning to code (and what to think about).
Been recommended many times on Twitter but Jeremy Giffon on Invest Like The Best was excellent. Listened to it twice in a row. Takes an opposite approach to me, instead of many small swings regularly, goes slow and takes big swings less often. Tweet length summary.
Tyler Cowen is an Information Monster, but you probably aren’t. That means the good of AI (creating information) outweighs the bad for him, but that calculation might not be true for you.
Before listening to this excellent podcast on Horatio Nelson (part 1, part 2), I had no idea who he was. Now I think he’s a fascinating and deserving national hero.
The best writing advice is simple. For example: you can write anytime, anywhere; and actually write, don’t pretend.
Heraldic map of Europe. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is the most American song. Nobody looks out plane windows. Alan Kay as based Urbiter. Ice cream good. Serious reading is an individual pursuit. Ad hominem arguments are valid. Respect the ability to hang.
Upcoming
Writing, potentially a personal piece on “junk time.”
Working on Iliad Translations, styling needs an upgrade and adding more translations.